episode 06: ben miller
october 4, 2023
Interview by pRIYANKA gERA
Edited by Priyanka Gera and Amar Gopal
Photo by Ben Miller
Ben, we are going to start all the way at the beginning. Where did you grow up?
I grew up outside of Albany, NY.
And if someone were to visit Albany, what’s one thing you recommend they do? Or one thing they should know?
Albany is not a very big place. I always recommend people experience nature while they are up there. One of the places I usually tell people to go is John Boyd Thacher State Park. It’s a scenic overlook. You can drive all the way to the top and look out onto a really pretty view.
What did you do in your gap years before medical school?
Before medical school, I moved around a lot. I lived in San Francisco Bay, and then I moved to Vermont and worked as a ski patroller.
Tell me a bit about that job.
Oh, it’s the best job in the world. In no other job do you get paid to ski, and you get to practice acute care medicine all the time. It was super fun.
What other jobs have you had?
I’ve had every job under the sun basically. I used to be a waiter; I’ve bartended a little bit. I worked as a tutor. I’ve worked in climbing gyms a lot too. You name it, and I’ve probably done it.
Do you have a favorite job?
Definitely ski patrol. How can you get better than that?
[laughs] I should have guessed. Since you moved around a lot, do you have a favorite city?
New York City. It’s so amazing. No other place I’ve been to is like it. It’s just so fun to be in. If I’m going to live in a city, I want the most city-for-city.
Are you going to be the first doctor in your family?
I am going to be the first “human” doctor in my family. My grandfather and his father and his father before him were all veterinarians.
I didn’t know that 😮 . So why are you breaking the trend?
I used to work at a veterinary clinic actually––that’s one of the jobs I forgot to mention above. When I was working there, I decided that I would have more fun if I could talk to my patients.
That’s fair. At least they can tell you where it hurts.
Maybe. I like to think they bite just a small bit less than animals.
That’s definitely a plus when it comes to working with humans. Do you have any pets?
I’ve had lots of pets growing up, but now I guess I am a cat uncle to Zundel Jr. (aka ZJ). [ZJ is currently 7 weeks old.]
Any hidden talents I should know about? I know you can cook, play the guitar, play frisbee. Anything I don’t know yet?
Hidden? I don’t tend to keep my talents hidden. You know I play the flute, right?
Oh my gosh. I forgot about that.
I have a degree in flute performance when I was in undergrad. I’m a horrible singer though, so that’s NOT one of my talents.
What’s your favorite song to play on the flute?
I like “First Sonata,” by Bohuslav Martinu. It’s a modern flute song that’s really fun. Maybe I’ll play it for you.
For sure. I know you and Austin Li had flute jam sessions a few times, and I missed every single one.
Yeah. After one of the exams, Austin and I decided to play some duets together. That was really fun. He is also a flute player.
Where do you not want to see yourself in 15 years?
In debt. [Both of us laugh]. I want to see myself in a job I really love, so I DON’T want to see myself unhappy and burnt out.
Are you leaning toward a particular specialty?
Anesthesiology. Because I want my patients to not talk to me.
Or better yet so that you have the ability to make them not talk to you. It’ll be in your hands.
It's in my power. Honestly, what I truly love about anesthesiology is not that the patients are asleep, but the fact that no other specialty is so focused on acute care. For example, when I was a ski patroller, my favorite thing about that job—other than the skiing—was that everything I did was acute. I would arrive on the scene, assess, and treat right there and then. I got to see immediate results of what I did. Anesthesiology is 100% acute care.
Was there any cool incident that you remember when you were a ski patroller?
I always tell this one story when I came across this guy who had a lacerated popliteal artery. He had cut the artery in the back of his leg with his ski and he was spurting blood everywhere.
That sounds like a Grey’s Anatomy episode.
I showed up at the scene and the guy said “I need a tourniquet.” And then I said, “You NEED a tourniquet.” I put a tourniquet on his leg and then skied him down.
Skied him down? How does that work?
When you are a ski patroller, you arrive on the scene with a sled behind you, so you treat the patient, put them on the sled, and then ski them down to the base. Then they receive further care.
That actually sounds kinda fun.
It’s SO fun. And riding in the sled is not bad either. You have to ride in the sled during training. Everyone has to.
What’s one thing on your bucket list you want to accomplish soon?
I’d really like to pass Step 1. That’s a huge one right now.
[laughs] That’s medicine related. Doesn’t count.
I’d really like to climb this one climb in New Paltz. It’s called the Dangler and it’s this 15-foot roof that’s 100-feet in the air and you traverse out on it completely horizontal. It’s so cool. It’s really scary, but I really want to do it.
You’ve done similar climbs though, right?
Yeah, nothing that scary though. But it’s mostly safe.
So when did you start climbing, because that is a big part of your life?
I started climbing in 2017. It’s almost been 7 years. I teach people at the climbing gym; I coach people and I have been climbing longer than they have been alive.
Any advice for novice climbers?
Don’t be afraid to look silly. I think that one of the things I excel at is picking up new skills. I think that is mostly due to the fact that I am not afraid to look absolutely silly. Throw yourself into it because you are not going to learn anything if you are not 100% willing to try. I have never once been good at something the first time I did it.
What are 3 foods you dislike?
Celery. I really strongly dislike celery. I don’t like arugula. It’s the spiciness and bitterness of it. I like all other food. So there is no third one.
Wait, but those are both green foods. Green is your favorite color!
Obviously, it’s the best color. What else would I pick?
If you could travel back in time, when would you return to?
Honestly, I don’t think I would. I think I am really happy with where I am with life now and I wouldn’t want to change anything.
So there is nothing you regret doing?
I have tons of regrets, but I don’t think that changing any of them is worth the chance of not being where I am right now. I wouldn’t be me without all of my mistakes.
What’s a friendship dealbreaker for you?
Disrespecting my friends. If you can’t be nice to my other friends, then I don’t think we can be friends.
What’s the most impressive thing you have ever made?
My soup. It’s definitely the soup. My soup is soooo good.
What’s your secret to good soup?
Make the stock from scratch. Most soup is just the broth. So if your broth is bad, so is your soup. You have to put actual vegetables in your broth and take your time to cook it. That makes it really good.
What’s your favorite dish to cook though?
Soup probably isn’t my favorite dish to cook. It is just too easy. I really like to cook Indian food a lot, so that would be my favorite. It’s so good and fun to cook.
Is there any one piece of art, music, or literature that speaks to you?
I think the answer to this is almost always just the most recent thing I’ve read or heard. But I just read this book recommended by the NYMC book club actually…[trying to remember the title of the book 🤔]
“On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong?
Yes. I read the whole book in one day. I have not done that since high school. It was so good. I cried and I couldn’t put it down. It’s a book about being. About being a first-generation American. About being born a son of immigrants. About being queer and living life while growing up in the suburbs of NY. It’s about a boy in his 20s who writes letters to his mom, who he knows can’t read English.
The most important question of all: How do you take your coffee?
No sugar with a little cream.
Any words of advice to the M1s?
Don’t lose yourself in studying. Find the things important to you in life and make sure you keep those.
Contact Ben at bmiller21@student.touro.edu.
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